As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, Gwinnett commissioners may get a 51 percent pay increase next year.
But Chairman Charlotte Nash’s pay would remain unchanged at $58,342. That’s because Nash – first elected five years ago – has sworn not to accept a pay hike while in office.
The reason: Nash has a second source of income from the county, a pension. She spent nearly three decades in Gwinnett County government, rising from accountant to budget director to financial services director to county administrator. She retired in 2004, then became commission chairman in a special election in 2011.
With a pension worth $12,215 a month, Nash vowed she would not accept any salary increase while in office. But on Monday she said she didn’t want her vow to be an obstacle to pay raises for district commissioners, who make less than their counterparts in other Metro Atlanta counties. So she proposed increasing their pay from $29,800 to $45,000.
That doesn’t mean Nash thinks the Gwinnett chairman shouldn’t get a raise after she leaves office. The base pay for Cobb County chairman – which, like Gwinnett’s chairman, is a full-time job – is $135,124.
You can learn more about Nash's proposal to raise district commissioners' salaries here.
